White Room
by VampireDragonite
Summary: Just over a year into his journey, Ash is locked deep in the Team Rocket HQ after his potential is seen by his father. 4 years later Ash finally escapes but his memory of the outside has faded over the years in the white room.
1. White Room Chapter 1

**This is my first fanfic and it was something that has been in my head for a while. I explained the idea to my friends and they said I should write it down so I did. **

**I first thought of it when I was listening to a song, a line that goes "'Cause I can't survive another night in a white room." and how someone would react to being in a situation like that plus how they might react when they got out of it.**

**Sorry if it's bad, I tried to fix as many errors as I could before posting it.**

* * *

The dice clattered to the floor, hours of work ruined. A shaky sigh came from the person who invested their precious time on such a slow and, in many peoples minds, dull activity.

Scattered around him were the remains of the dice castle. It was almost complete, only one tower left and a new record would have been made, at least in his mind. Even if it was good enough for the book of Guinness world records, he would never know.

Ash looked up at the towers human demolition ball, a boy called Hun... or was that a girl? The only one who truly knew was Hun's partner in- quite literally- crime, Attila.

"Is this seriously all you do all day? Lazing around with you toys? Your 15! Go and do something more productive with your life!"

Ash just tilted his head to the side and raised an arm. Suggesting towards the pure white walls and floor. It was like space but without the stars or planets. Constrictive, cold, maddening. If you were to throw a white coat down the only way to tell anything was there would be the shadowed creases.

"Oh, that's right. You stay in here don't you?"

He gave Hun a dry look in response, turning his attention back to pile of dice on the floor. Black dots the only evidence of their existence. It was a wonder how he survived in the 'white room' as people referred to it as. Anyone else unlucky enough to have ended up in there wound up in a straight jacket, claiming to see 'pixies everywhere'.

4 long years. That was 213 weeks more than anyone else. That didn't mean there weren't side affects though. Due to the brightness of the room, anything outside was much darker than it actually was.

All colour would have been drained from his eyes of it weren't for his contact lenses. They allowed him to see everything around him in the tint of the colour he was wearing. Currently it was red. His real eye colour was a chocolate brown, the colour of his fathers and mothers, though no one ever mentioned her.

Most people outside of the room who knew of him also knew of his achievements made in what little adventure he had. Each day a legendary creature was practically on his doorstep- outside his tent would have been more accurate. Ash had started his journey when he was ten, as did all aspiring trainers and coordinators, travelling the world to try and live his dream. A dream that was now lost in the glow of the white room.

Four years ago he would have been lying with his best friends Misty and Brock under the stars. Now he was lying in 'his room' doing the occasional puzzle, a bit of drawing then going to bed to restart the process in the morning.

Hun tapped his foot on the floor, waiting for a response from the black haired kid.

"Leave him alone Hun, you know how sensitive he can get when you harass him."

"Sensitive? Is he even capable of expressing that?" If he could show emotion, he did a lousy job of it.

"Of course he is." There was a loud band and a cuss or two from Attila. "For Mew's sake Bob! Watch where your going!"

"The names Butch, not Bob!" Butch yelled, not caring he was talking to a superior, going by ranks anyway. Lots of people around the Rocket HQ often made up their own rules. "That wasn't my fault anyway! It was Cassidy's, she could have told me I was going to walk into you." He stated, shooting his aforementioned partner a glare.

"How could I possibly see where you were going when your head's in the way!" She argued placing her end of the stack of wooden planks on the floor, leaving Butch holding the other end up. They had been carrying some planks down to the loading bay as one of their 'errands' for the day, when Butch had walked backwards into Attila by accident whilst hauling the load.

Ash meanwhile had stood up and was trying to crane his neck around Hun to see what was out there. Familiar voices rang in his head, he wanted to see what connection to his memories they held. The time in the white room left some parts of his mind in the dark. His memory being one of them. This was both a good thing and a bad thing.

On one hand, he couldn't vividly remember those in Team Rocket that had done him wrong meaning they could re-introduce themselves without much trouble. It also meant they could make up some things about his past and get him to believe it with ease.

Trouble was, this left his memory lapsed. Once something would straighten out, another part would fall disrupting the corrected part. It sometimes took five or six times before a name would stay in his brain. Hun was one of the only people who had the patience to introduce herself to him that many times.

Before Ash could get a good look over Hun's shoulder, he turned around and locked the door. Sealing him back inside the white nightmare. Ash absent-mindedly kicked at the dice on the floor, tiny black dots shifting durants.

His father usually came to see him around this time. Sometimes bringing another puzzle to stimulate his mind. It had always been a wonder to Ash why he was sealed in there in the first place. Surely being left inside somewhere like this would only trigger a bad reaction. What could possibly be achieved from doing this? Yet another mystery of his life to sort out.

"Starmie, Hydro Pump!" the red-headed girl shouted from the right side of the pool. Scattered across the pool were small floating islands for land Pokemon to jump on.

The purple starfish-like creature formed a torrent of water at it's centre before firing the powerful stream of water towards it's opponent, a pidgeotto.

"Quick, Pidgeotto! Dodge it and use Ariel Ace!"

The panting pidgeotto spread it's aching wings and prepared to fly out of range of the attack- but it was too late. The Hydro Pump struck hard, knocking the already dizzy Pokemon to the bobbing platform.

"The challenger is unable to battle, the winner is Cerulean gym leader Misty!" The referee yelled from the stand at the edge of the pool, raising a blue flag in the direction of the redhead.

Rookie trainer and gym leader exchanged thanks for the battle before going their own ways. The trainer out the gyms entrance to heal his Pokemon at the centre and train some more before re-challenging the gym. The gym leader to retire to check on her precious water types.

Misty came out of the back part of the battle area, placing her pokeballs on the rack after putting her starmie in the pool with her other Pokemon, excluding Psysuck who still refused to go near anything big and water-filled.

All three of her sisters were on holiday again, most likely in a beauty competition at this very minute. Things had become quite boring since she came back to the gym from traveling with Ash and Brock, who had gone back to his job as the Pewter gym leader and to help care for his many siblings.

Ash was a different case altogether. One day they were travelling tithe next gym with him, collecting all of the badges so he could enter the league and the next he practically disappears without a trace when they were about to collect the last badge from the Viridian gym.

She often wondered where her friend had ended up. He might have gone to a different region to gain more experience before challenging the league and didn't want to tell them incase she and Brock tried to stop him. He could have gotten lost in the woods and still be wondering around there hopelessly lost today. That was what she wanted to believe. That he was completely fine and carrying on to achieve his goal, one day he would be on the television challenging the champion, Lance.

That sounded too good to be true, Ash wasn't the sort of kid to run off by himself without any contact with his friends or family. From what she could tell, his mother hadn't heard from him all this time either and was worrying to death about him.

Brock had also been effected by his disappearance. Falling into depression over the loss of his 'younger brother'. She and Brock's family managed to restore some faith in him and themselves though by saying he was just going solo on his adventure for a while to become more independent.

The police had investigated his disappearance for a year and a half before giving up searching, it was around this time that the Rockets upped their game, crime levels across Kanto rising higher than ever recorded.

Misty suspected Team Rocket had something to do with Ash. They had sent three grunts after him since the beginning of his journey. Maybe their constant foiling of the plans to capture Pikachu finally sent their boss over the edge? Pikachu. She hadn't seen him since Ash's disappearance either. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen any of Ash's Pokemon since then.

She had waited long enough for a sign he was okay. The longer she stayed at home in Cerulean- the bigger the chance he would be killed by his captors or never found at all.

"Time to go home Togepi." Misty said watching her egg Pokemon wave goodbye to it's water-type friends before catching him in her arms. She turned off the lights of the gym then left out of the same door the trainer had earlier.

She made her way down the path away from the gym, her head flooded with thoughts of Ash and where he was right now, like she ever thought of anything else. It was only when she unlocked the door to her and her three sisters house when she realised that the gyms doors were still locked.

Misty groaned at her forgetfulness, placing Togepi on the chair and started walking back towards the front door.

"Toge-pi prii?" Togepi yelled towards her sounding distressed.

"I'm just going to lock the gym doors Togepi, nothing for you to worry about. I'll be back before you know it." She promised going back out the door.

The jog back to the gym seemed to take longer than it usually did, the dark seemed to have that effect on everyone. It was mid-November meaning the day started later and ended earlier. A few weeks ago it would have been broad daylight around this time.

The wind blew, blowing some of the leaves that hung for dear life off the trees around the gym. Misty reached into her pocket, pulling out the keys and locking the door before there was a thump sound coming from her left. It sounded just like someone jumping down onto pile of leaves would.

She immediately spun 'round, her breathing becoming quicker and the sound of her fast beating heart came to her ears. Three cloaked figures then jumped in front of her. She could just see their mouths moving as the snickered.

"Who are y-" she was quickly cut off however.

"Prepare for trouble!" yelled one of the figures, dramatically throwing the cloak off to the side revealing her crimson, impossibly styled hair.

"Make it double!" Her counterpart yelled, mirroring her act with the cloak, showing his violet coloured hair.

"To protect the world from deva-"

"Will you guys just shut up! How mug longer are you going to keep this up? You have been following me and my friends for the last couple of years now!"

"Err... Well... You see we..." The lavender haired boy, James, stuttered.

"Did I say I was finished?" Technically it was a question, though it was meant as a statement to tell them all to be quiet. "What did you come for this time?" She said, holding back a groan at having to see the three again.

"Hey!" Yelled the third cloaked character, much shorter than the other two. "I didn't get to my part of the motto!" The third then took off his cloak, revealing him to be a Meowth.

Misty just glared at him, still waiting for them to answer her as to why they were there.

"In all honesty we came to ask where your head twerp is? We haven't seen him with you for a while." The red haired girl, Jessie, said wanting to get straight to what the three of them wanted to know.

"Head twerp?" She asked, perplexed as to who that could be. "Oh, wait. Do you mean Ash?"

"That's the one." James confirmed with a nod.

"I don't know where he is either. The police looked all over Kanto for him but they had to give up the search in the end." She was more than confused as to why they hadn't seen him. If Ash had been caught by the Rockets, wouldn't they know he was in the building where their base was.

"You haven't heard anything. No phone calls? No letters? No long winded voicemail on why he left and how profoundly sorry he was to have left you so suddenly?" James asked, starting to feel a bit dizzy thinking of the prospect of what could have happened to him.

"No, nothing." She sighed and looked down at the floor sadly. Gone without a trace.

That was when a message came over a receiver at James' belt.

"This is Proton, checking in on Jessie, James and Meowth. Tell me your current location." The male voice said, sounding quite calm and casual.

"Currently in Cer-Cerulean City, sir. Outside of the gym." Jessie responded snatching the reciever away from James, stuttering slightly at the sudden call from the executive, even if he was one of the generally nicer ones. It could have been much worse.

"In that case then you had better start running. The boss has a job for you back at the base. Heh, I'm surprised he still keeps you around with skills as bad as yours."

The Rocket trio glanced at one another as the transmission ended with a beep. The three then ran out of Cerulean as fast as they had appeared. Misty watched as the raced down the path towards before going out of sight. She then let out her groan. Idiots.

* * *

**That's the first chapter of what I wrote and I want to know whether I should put the next one up or whether I should leave it and try to do something better.**


	2. White Room Chapter 2

**Finally got this bit up. My laptop is so slow and we have been having problems with our wi-fi. Not good.**

**Anyway, I know that in an earlier episode of Pokemon it is mentioned that Brock's mom, Lola, died. This is not correct as far as I am aware and it was a translation mistake in the English dub so she is still alive. The reason why she is in this is because I was watching volume 1 of 'Pokemon Chronicles' (Attila and Hun, best Rocket members ever aside from Proton :D) and she was in an episode called 'A Family That Battles Together Stays Together!'.**

**Also, why didn't that one town know who Team Rocket was in 'We're No Angels'? Hadn't they seen the logo anywhere before?  
**

**I looked over chapter one and saw that there was nothing separating the two parts, sorry if that caused any confusion. From the bit about another mystery in life to figure out onwards it's in Cerulean City. I noticed I mentioned Lance being champion, that's because I don't remember who was the champion. Just that Blue (Gary, or Gary's dad or whatever) became champion in the games.**

* * *

Ash had been left alone for the rest of the night. His father hadn't come to see him which was quite a big disappointment. Whenever his father did come they would talk about Pokemon, enjoying the company. There wasn't much else to do in the room. There wasn't a television, his father told him that they would mess with his head, the same thing went for pictures in books. Music was also not allowed.

Ash never found out why there were so many rules about what he could and couldn't do or have. All he knew was his room and a few shreds of his memory. He yawned and looked over at his bed, barely visible against the wall.

Beyond the door time seemed to stop, mostly because you couldn't tell whether it was day or night and because of the silence. One day he would have to ask one of his friends for a clock so he could plan his day better- the day consisting of breakfast, lunch, dinner and a few visit or two from the few friends he made there.

Outside of his room were people running around, finding their way back to their rooms in the deep underground of the HQ. Among those people were Jessie and James, mere feet away from the boy they thought the worse had happened to.

"What do you suppose the mission is Jessie?" James asked his partner as they approached the white room door. They had often heard rumour around the base that someone was in there and had been for a while now but they didn't and wouldn't believe it. Not unless they saw it for themselves.

"I don't know but it must be pretty important if the boss couldn't tell us through the communicator."

Ash's attention was immediately drawn to the two people outside.. He had heard them from somewhere before but he just couldn't think of where. By the fact that their footsteps were getting louder he could tell they were going to pass by his room.

"Why would he want to put such an important job in our hands. He is already annoyed with us enough as it is for failing the simplest missions known to any Team Rocket member."

"Maybe we're just thinking about this too much, it's probably just a precaution with all the police snooping around. I wouldn't be surprised if-"

A knock on the small grey door. It was faint, almost non-existent but there was definitely something making a noise. James knocked back to see if there would be a response. Sure enough, there was.

On the other side of the door, Ash was practically jumping for joy that he had managed to get their attention. Now it was just a matter of getting them in the room so he could meet them.

Jessie just rolled her eyes, clearly not believing any of this.

"James, this is probably a set up. We could be being watched right now and laughed at for falling for it."

James held a finger up, silently telling her to be quiet and pressed his ear against the door. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't hear anything else coming from inside. Maybe Jessie was right. This was just some trick by Cassidy and Butch to make them late to see the boss and- hopefully- get them fired at the same time. Still, there was a chance that there was someone there.

"Hello?" he called loud enough for anyone on the other side to hear but not so loud anyone down the hallway could.

"Hello." Ash responded, his voice was weak and quiet. He hoped whoever was on the other side could hear him. From the other side it sounded like a mumble but what he said could be understood.

"If this is a joke then we're not falling for it!" Jessie called- her voice echoing down the cleared hallway. It seemed as though all life had been from the entire floor, excluding herself, James and whoever- or whatever- was on the other side of the door. Meowth had stayed back in the group room, he always seemed more of a hindrance than a help whenever they went to the boss' office.

Ash stood still, staring at the door waiting for a response. What seemed like hours passed by within the closed space- it could have been that long for all he knew. A dizzy feeling rushed over him, the few things contained in the room appearing to become bigger, threatening to suffocate him against the wall.

Ash slammed his hands against the door and tried to slow his breathing, this was something that happened quite often. If too long was spent in one position or daydreaming his connection to reality was broken. The only way he found stopped the dizzy spells was to find comfort in something solid to ground himself to the real world.

The thump didn't go unnoticed by Jessie and James on the other side. The sudden movement sparked some interest in Jessie. For one reason or another something wanted them to go in there.

"Move out of the way, James!" Jessie commanded, shoving him aside. She reared her foot back and slammed it against the door. Repeating the action several times.

The sudden rattling of the door made Ash jump back. Couldn't they just unlock the door? Anyone else who wanted to come in just borrowed keys from someone else or use a paper clip.

"Come on! Open!" Jessie screamed. James remained seated on the floor. Trying to reason with Jessie when she got worked up had the same effect as prodding an already enraged Tauros.

The hinges on the door were started to weaken from the force of the blows and a dent was appearing where her foot was slamming. Had anyone come by at that moment, they would have swiftly gone back the other way and come back when the lunatics were out of town.

Fire burned in Jessie's eyes as she forced pushed herself to the limit. It was a surprise smoke wasn't rising off her leg yet.

With one last forceful kick the hinges gave way. Ash leapt to the side before a battered door crushed him.

Jessie appeared to calm down significantly at her triumph. Sighing and regaining her cool as though the last ten minutes never happened.

James stood up and joined his partner at the doorway. The only thing standing out from the bright space was a pile of black dots, the form of a bed and a young boy kneeling next to the bed- staring in shock at the corpse battered corpse of his door.

His mouth hung open slightly as if trying to find the right words to say about the current situation. His eyes showed shock, excitement and traces of fear for his life. If the could do that to his door, what could they do to him? He pressed himself as close to the wall as possible, wrapping his arms around his knees to hide his face apart from his eyes from them.

"What do you want?" He asked, trying to sound as bold and threatening as possible. 'I wish Dad was here'.

* * *

"What are you doing to Golem?!" Flint yelled at his wife.

It had been a slow day at the Pewter gym. Any aspiring trainers had moved on to Cerulean for their next badge. It was around twelve thirty when Flint had hear something akin to a waterfall in the gym and decided to investigate the noise. This would be the second time now if- as he suspected- his wife was turning the gym into one for water types.

Brock's mother, Lola, turned around to face her husband smiling proudly. Behind her was Flint's golem being blasted with a hydro pump from Lola's blastoise. The poor creature was waving its arms frantically in a failing attempt to block the torrent of water.

"I thought Golem could do with a bath along with your other pokemon." The smile stayed on her face, the screams of terror coming from Golem falling on deaf ears.

"B-but Golem is a ground type! He's not meant to swim!"

"Golem's not swimming, dear. It's just a shower." Lola wagged her finger, clearly underestimating the force of the hydro pump her blastoise was firing.

"Golem lem!" Golem pleaded with Flint to get him out of there.

"See? He loves it, don't you Golem?"

"Lem Gol!" Golem yelled in protest to the treatment. Since when was washing a ground type with hydro pump of all attacks a good idea?

Flint mulled over the options. Running into a hydro pump was suicidal. Trying to stop his wife's ideas was suicidal. Leaving Golem wasn't an option. The only thing he could think of that wouldn't take sacrifice would be to get Brock, that would distract her long enough for him to take his Pokemon and head for the hills- water Pokemon wouldn't follow him up there.

'Hang in there Golem.' Flint eyed the pokeballs stood on the rack. 'I had better get them out of here before they end up like Golem.'

Flint casually walked over to the rack and faster the pokeballs in his arms, including the ones Brock left ready to battle challengers.

"What are you doing?" Lola asked, making her way over. Flint felt like a ratatta being staked by a persian.

I was... I was... Uh..." From the corner of his eye Flint could see the exit of the gym. He made a dash for the open door. Just as he got to the exit Brock came into his view a bit too late.

Pokeballs went flying, Brock and his father now lay sprawled out on the floor after the collision.

"What were you doing dad?" Brock asked, propping his head up on his elbow and picking up a pokeball to check for damage.

"Golem" He whispered, pointing to the now semi-unconscious ground type, slumped against a bolder. Blastoise stood rubbing its neck sheepishly.

"What happened here?!" Brock sprang up, looking from his smiling mother to his father, who still lay on the floor.

"Blastoise was giving Golem a bath, dear. I guess we got a bit carried away though." Only now did she notice the damage the hydro pump had done.

"What?! Ground types aren't meant to have baths!"

"That's what I said." Flint voiced, drawing a circle on the floor with his finger. "I was trying to save the others from going through the same thing."

Brock knelt down and started collecting the pokeballs. Ever since he stopped journeying with Ash things had become pretty boring around the place. The only action coming from his mom and dads quarrels between rock and water types.

'It makes me wonder how things would have turned out for us. Would Ash have gotten to the league and achieved his dream or would we still be heading towards that goal.'

Flint had by now manages to pick himself up off the floor and was checking on Golem, trying to dry him off a bit with a cloth.

"I'll go and get the hair dryer." Brock sighed, heading back towards the house.

* * *

**That's that chapter, now to watch more Bleach :) (Kisuke is the best!)**


	3. White Room Chapter 3

**Next chapter, the vast majority of this was written at about 2 am whilst listening to rock and metal, plus I was hyped up on sweet cereal so... yeah.**

* * *

Three people. One lavender haired staring fearfully at his partner after her precious display. Another with fiery red hair, out of breath and starting to get a serious headache. The third a young boy of fifteen who really only wanted to had a decent talk with them but was now cowering in the corner.

The abnormality of the room made it seem like a movie set, minus the cameras and director. Listen hard enough and you might have heard some threateningly peaceful music in the distance. The kind that plays before a sudden movement that changes the whole scene from one of peace to horror.

Jessie was- for once- at a loss for words. Something was definitely familiar about the boy but the glaring red eyes and long black hair coated her thoughts with doubt.

James meanwhile was still mulling over the statement. What would they possibly take from someone like him. He didn't seem to know much about Team Rocket if he couldn't recognize the lowly grunt uniforms they wore. That was enough to show they weren't any real threat.

Was the boss really turning to these extremes. Taking innocent hostages and not caring about the consequences. Sure, Madame Boss had done some terrible things but this was going a bit too far for his tastes.

"We don't want anything from you, we just wanted to find out what was in here." He spoke softly, the look he was being given was akin to that the boss gave them after every failed attempt. It probably would have been cute if his eyes weren't that way.

"I don't believe you." A simple answer that cut straight to the point. His eyes were filled with defiance, strands of black hair falling over them.

James just stared. The boy had just insulted his possible saviors from the white void. Although, they were Rocket members- it was understandable how he would be suspicious of all the members.

"But- we just wanted to-"

"I don't need help! I'm perfectly fine!" He yelled, tightening the grip he had around his legs defensively.

"Come on James. What's the point in trying to help people who can't help themselves." She spat, turning her back to the boy and starting to walk away. "We have much more important things to see to, like our mission."

James just sighed, looking from the boy to his partner. Making up his mind that he liked having a head in his shoulders, he followed her.

"Please don't go."

James stopped in his tracks and looked back at the boy. The whole air around him seemed to have changed. Now that he could see the kids face properly, there was nothing but loneliness and fear- but of what?

He and Jessie were leaving him now. They had proved they meant no harm, what did he want now.

"Don't go?" James coaxed. He knew that they had to get going but something at the back of his mind told him this was more important. Even if he did face execution at the hands of a persian.

"I don't want you to." He said as though that answered everything. It did for the most part, the boy had obviously gotten over any fear of them, why else would he be calling them back.

James leaned his head around the now permanently open doorway. Jessie was long gone as far as he could tell. That was good, they were partners but didn't always agree on things.

"I thought you were coming with me?"

James spun around to meet the angry face of his partner. She really did have a strange way of expressing herself. If she had of been that quiet and sneaky in their red snorlax graduation mission they may have actually have achieved their goal.

"I was but he asked me not to."

"Oh, so you listen to what anyone tells you to do now? If I asked you to jump off , would you do it?"

"It depends on why I would have to jump. Was it a life or death situation or was it just as a dare or were you-"

"You're missing the point, James! You don't let anybody push you around. Least of all someone like him."

Ash just tilted his head in confusion. Someone like him? Was they a completely different race or something. Last time he checked, people were people and Pokemon were Pokemon- nothing strange going on there.

"Did I say something wrong? I never asked you to leave. I just wanted to know why you wanted to break down my door instead of unlocking it. Wouldn't that scare you?" He said tucking a few strands of hair behind his ear.

"I suppose it would."

All went silent again. There was no real way to rival the boys statement. They were the ones who had wrongly ran away.

"So, any reason why you were making so much noise out there?"

"We were?" Jessie and James asked in unison. We're they really that easy to hear?

"Yeah, something about an important mission and having to see 'the boss'." He used little quotation marks that would make anyone 'aww'.

"You really heard all that." Jessie was starting to get a bit embarrassed. If they always spoke that loud who knows what sort of things other members could have heard them saying.

"Could you tell me who this 'boss' person is? He seems pretty important to you all. People come by here all the time. 'The boss' this 'the boss' that. I feel really left out."

That was strange. It was rare anyone, if at all, came into the base without knowing who the boss was.

"You seriously don't know the boss?" This was getting ridiculous.

He just responded with a shake of his head and a completely innocent look that said 'don't blame me'.

"Haven't you parents ever told you anything or have you seen anything on the news?"

The same answer. This was becoming quite creepy for the duo. A boy of about fifteen was in the base and probably had been for last four years. The fact he seemed to know nothing about the boss was what bothered them the most. Even if he had come in here without knowledge about him, the boss always introduced himself to their 'guests'.

"You ever heard mention of anyone by the name Giovanni?" That was more or less a last resort. it was highly unlikely he had heard of the boss' forename but just on the off chance.

"Giovanni, huh? That's quite funny, actually. That happens to be my dad's name, if thats's any use to you."

* * *

The rest of the night had gone by without any further interruption. Misty had gone home in quite a good mood after Team Rockets visit, which was quite a hard thing to say.

They usually only brought misery into your day but they had been exactly what she needed. Her sisters absence left an empty space in the house. Over the years she had learned to live with it but her time with Ash and Brock had made left her needing company again.

The few trainers who came by this time of year and her Pokemon were the only things keeping her sane. Without them she would probably be making quite nice conversation with the diving board.

In a few weeks time her sisters would be returning for a week or two for a break from all of their holidays.

"They must really get worn out with all that hard work they do in all those tedious beauty contests."

"Spy?" Spyduck voiced, tilting it's head in the same confused manner it always had.

"Sometimes I wonder just how much of what I'm saying you understand, Spyduck."

"Spy?"

"Never mind."

Spyduck just stood there for a while before making his way towards the kitchen. Although dinner hadn't really been that long ago, Spyduck still wanted more. If he were painted blue and cream he could be mistaken for a munchlax.

Paint. The gym's sign was due to be repainted next Saturday.

"It's sad to think that repainting the sign is going to be the most 'thrilling' thing I will have done since I stopped travelling." She mused aloud to Togepi.

After the meeting legendaries and travelling across practically the whole of Kanto, nothing seemed to be as entertaining as it used to be in Cerulean.

During every fishing trip she would sit and daydream about the day that changed her life. At the time it has seemed like a joke some dumb trainer had decided to pull on her that had resulted in his Pokemon getting hurt.

Well, maybe she wasn't so wrong about the dumb part, he did try battling a flying type with a bug and rush into various situations without thinking them through. Without those characteristics though, he wouldn't be Ash.

"To be on the road again." She sighed. "Even if we did go out by ourselves, it wouldn't be the same."

"Prii..." Togepi yawned, trying to stay awake. Of all her pokemon, Togepi was always the most understanding when she spoke about Ash and always listened to everything she said.

"Tired, Togepi?"

"Togi..."

"I guess we won't be going anywhere at this time. We may as well rest for a while."

Misty stood up from the chair and stretched before a crash came from the kitchen. The sound of metal scraping tile could be heard before stopping, only to start again moments later.

Misty gently picked up Togepi from the chair before creeping over to the entry of the kitchen. She reached over to the light switch- clicking it into the on position.

Lying on the floor was Spyduck, among various pots and pans.

"Spy..."

"Spyduck, what did you think you were doing."

"Spy..."

Misty just groaned and picked the yellow pokemon out of the mess. Nothing seemed wrong with him, just a bit shaken from the shock.

"I'll clear this up tomorrow, you'll probably sleepwalk here and do it again later anyway."

So ended another dull day in Cerulean city. Another added to the last four years spent alone apart from her Pokemon and the rare presence of her sisters. Completely oblivious to what was going on deep underground two towns over.

* * *

**Yeah, I will probably be writing the next bit now until I get tired enough to actually sleep. Either that or listen to Arctic Monkeys or Avenged Sevenfold for a while :)**


	4. White Room Chapter 4

Alright, so I would just like to say sorry it's been aaaages since I updated this. I have just been busy with things which aren't really of significance (...it wasn't like it was playing games or anything...)

Whatever, I am probably going to go off on a tangent about my favourite games and other things which have nothing to do with this fic so I'll stop ranting on here...

In regards to 'Spyduck'...not really sure where that came from. I use an iPod so it's either I was at fault for typing too quickly or it was automatically corrected somewhere due to some random chat I've had at some point. I'll try to make sure no more 'Spyducks' slip their way into this. No matter how fluffy they may be.

* * *

"That's your dads name?" James questioned jut to be sure he heard correctly.

"Thats what I said. Could just be a coincidence though. There is more than one person in the world named Giovanni."

Fair point, but still. The chance of there being another in Kanto with such an uncommon name was quite low.

"What does he look like?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"So we can see whether our boss and your dad are the same person."

"I doubt they are, unless your boss always wears this weird orange suit and always has a persian with him."

"He does."

"Really? I didn't know he was the boss here. I knew he was high up but... wow."

Jessie and James just stood stiff. Sat before them was the boss's son. Now what would they do? Originally it would have been quite easy to get him to tell them what was going on in here, but this complicated things.

"Do you know where the base is?" Chances were he knew a lot about the boss, assuming he spent a lot of time with him. This could work to their advantage.

"I'm sure it's somewhere under Viridian or somewhere like that. I never think about it really."

James was starting to feel the pressure of the room setting in. The light was starting to burn his eyes and he wanted to get out as soon as possible.

"How can you stay in here, kid?" He asked, putting a hand over his eyes to try and block the light a bit, failing since the floor was practically the same.

"It's not like I have a choice. I would love to go out but my dad won't let me. Apparently leaving will mess with my head somehow, he didn't tell me exactly why- if he did I certainly don't remember it."

Then Jessie realised something. The whole time they had been there chatting, they hadn't even asked for his name or told him theirs. Maybe if they introduced themselves properly then he would be a bit easier to talk to.

"Hey, you have a name don't you?"

"Yes, thanks for asking."

"No, I was asking of you could tell me your name but less directly."

"Why couldn't you have just asked 'directly' in the first place then? It would have been much quicker and easier for me to tell you."

Over the course of the last five minutes, the conversation had turned around from them being above him to everything he said seeming like a challenge or some sarcastic statement.

"Look, we're kind of in a hurry here. Just tell us so we can get going."

"I have quite a few names. Some people use different names to the others but it doesn't bother me. I would rather a few of them just stick to calling me 'Ash' though. 'Idiot boy' and 'Invalid' seem a bit harsh to me. I am not affected by any illness as far as I know and I don't think I'm that stupid."

"Could you just wait one minute? I have something important to say that doesn't concern you- not to be rude or anything."

"Whatever."

James pulled Jessie over into the corner, if the floor had of been clear you wouldn't have been able to tell whether there were corners but the way the dominoes lay in a 'V' shape clearly outlined where the walls met.

"Ash? Coincidence or what?"

"I think you are doing something you should be- thinking. There could be, and most likely are, hundreds of people in the world with that name. We don't even know how it's spelt. For all we know it could have an 'e' on the end."

"But it's not impossible. We have been after the pikachu for years, maybe the boss decided to take things into his own hands and bring him here."

"Doesn't explain any relationship though."

"Does it have to? This is Ash we are talking about. With the strange things that happen to him this could almost be normal."

"Or maybe the kid has lost it. We don't know how long he has been here but this place doesn't look very friendly on the eyes or brain."

"True, I suppose the only way we have to find out anything is to ask him. Even if everything he says does turn out to be a story he thought up during his time in here."

"We have to be careful with the questions though. If we touch on something he's sensitive about then he will close up and not tell us anything. Probably getting us in trouble for upsetting him and being here in the first place."

"Since when did you care about how people feel?"

"Since it became something we need to think about to find out what we want to know."

Meanwhile, Ash had taken what James had said a bit too literally. He had said 'just a minute', right?

"Fifty seven, fifty eight, fifty nine, sixty." It had been a minute now and they still weren't done. He stood up from his position on the floor, a bit too fast as he momentarily got the rushing dizzy feeling after sitting down for too long. 'I hate it when that happens.'

He approached Jessie and James slowly, trying to listen in as much as he could to what they were talking about. When he was stood right next to them, they still didn't notice him. He tried yapping on James' shoulder but he didn't seem to care. Their conversation obviously wasn't that important if they were letting him listen in now.

"Are you almost done? It's been over a minute and I'm still waiting."

"When I said a minute, I didn't mean for it to be taken literally."

"You should have asked me to 'wait a bit' or a few minutes then. That way I wouldn't have bother with counting how long you were taking."

"I didn't realise I would- never mind. This argument is pointless."

Once again, silence ruled over them. James and Ash still mentally arguing with each other over the statement. Until Jessie's mind was brought back to something she and James had originally come to the base to do.

"James, we need to get to the boss' office now. We don't want Persian set on us again."

"He sets his persian on you when you do something wrong? That must really hurt. I'm glad I've never had to go through that experience."

"You should be. I've been bitten in places I don't really want to talk about. That persian really shows no mercy..."

"Enough chatting James or you'll have another scar to add to your collection." She grabbed his arm and practically dragged him down the hall. They were already over ten minutes late. 'Hopefully the boss will be in a good mood tonight.'

Ash turned his head to look out the doorway to see just what they were walking into. He almost jumped at how dark it looked, it was like a rectangular black hole had appeared on his wall. He looked down to the door still lying dented on the floor. This was the first time since he was first put in here, however long that was, that the door had been open and clear long enough for him to go outside to wherever it went.

There were two choices. One was stay until someone came later and fixed the door. The second was going and seeing what was so interesting to everyone, there seemed to be more out there than where he was.

He walked towards the hole, the world he knew slowly dying as he got closer. Was it cold out there, or was he just excited? He held on to the door frame just to safe and reached out into the hall way. Now that he had been looking for a whole, it wasn't as dark out as he thought. It wasn't light either. He wondered how those other two had made their way around this place do easily without a light. Unless those flickering bars above him were the lights. They were definitely different to the round lights in his room.

"Do you really think the boss will be that angry with us?"

"Have you got short term memory loss or something? He is going to be livid!"

"I was just asking..."

The journey from the deeper area of the HQ to the boss' office took about five minutes walking at a normal pace. They would have made it there on time, maybe slightly early, if they hadn't have had their little chat with Ash. Going to see him wasn't something they ever looked forward to, this time even more so. If they knew Giovanni, this wouldn't be a good night.

Jessie knocked on his door as soon as they got there, not wanting to waste any more time feeling sorry for themselves.

"Come in."

It was like they were being called in for their execution. The worst part being they would keep living to be punished another day afterwards.

They both entered the room, holding their arms by their sides and trying not to look worried. It wasn't going to fool Persian, no matter how hard they tried. She could sense fear, and she loved to see others quivering in it because of her. Especially that annoying meowth that didn't appear to be tagging along with his accomplices today.

"I'm sure you remember your various attempts to capture a certain pikachu, your various -failed- attempts. It would be quite impossible for you to not remember."

The duo remained silent. There was nothing to say to that, no matter how they would try to argue that case- it would still sound pitiful.

"That's why I shall refrain from entrusting you with any other 'liberation' missions, they are obviously not amongst your few strengths."

Once again, they let it slide past. It wasn't that they were accepting of the comment, far from it. They merely understood that sometimes people couldn't understand the difficulty there is in taking pokemon from a few children...alright, a lot of children. But those children happen to have cute and cuddly weapons of mass destruction, that also are what they are meant to be detaining. It's quite a hard job, and one they were sure their boss would understand if he tried himself.

However, even after all their experiences with 'blasting off again', they couldn't help but feel a sense of regret at this revelation.

"And now I bet you are wondering what your new 'jobs' will be. That would be one of the things I have brought you here to explain to you.."

* * *

In my opinion, that was quite short, but I suppose it will be enough for now...I hope. Just until I get back into the habit of writing again.


End file.
